Related News

At the accident site in Karnataka’s Mandya district on Saturday. (PTI Photo)

A private bus toppled into a canal near Kanakangudi village in Pandavapura taluk of Karnataka’s Mandya district, around 100 km from Bengaluru, on Saturday, killing 30 people, including seven children and 15 women.

Advertising

The bus fell into the canal around noon after the driver lost control while speeding. The majority of deaths were caused by drowning as the bus sank in the canal, trapping the passengers.

The bus was a private transport facility plying between villages in Pandavapura taluk. Among the children who died were Preeksha, a two-year-old, Likitha, 5, Soumya, 5, Pavitra, 11, Kalpana, 11, Ravikumar, 12, and Preethi 15. Four people managed to get out through the windows and swim to safety including the driver, the police said.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Congress leader Siddaramaiah visited the site of the accident in the afternoon to assess the situation.

Advertising

Local farmers attempted to carry out rescue work initially before official rescue services in the form of the fire forces arrived. Mandya Additional SP Balaramegowda said all the bodies were recovered from the canal by late evening.

Kumaraswamy announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for the families of the dead and stated that the state government would make efforts to deploy more government buses to improve connectivity between villages in the region where his party the JDS is dominant.